Division of Nursing—Clinical Learning

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 16 percent from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations.* Southern Vermont College’s Division of Nursing is poised to meet the demand of this growth, with a challenging baccalaureate program in a technologically-advanced environment—one that allows students to hone their skills confidently before beginning their clinical rotations at one of several regional sites in Vermont and Massachusetts.

Campus facilities include a dedicated low-fidelity skill laboratory, high-fidelity simulation and x-ray laboratories, technologically advanced classrooms and conference space, as well as ample offices with a secure file area. The simulation lab, developed in collaboration with Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, a Magnet-designated hospital in Bennington, provides students with the opportunity to work on an entire multicultural, anatomically correct, “virtual family” that includes male and female adults and children as well as a baby, for the ultimate nursing practice experience.

The fully-equipped space recreates the real-world work environment with the requisite equipment necessary to provide comprehensive development of critical thinking skills and competency in other skills such as positioning, transferring, sterile technique, medication administration and documentation of care, which promotes the safety and quality of patient care. The size and proximity of the skill and simulation laboratories to the classrooms allows small, personalized study groups of up to eight students to move seamlessly through their assigned learning exercises. Coverage of simulation experience scenarios by advanced AV technology allows for group debriefing with discussion, analysis and evaluation.

Simulation allows students to practice collaborative learning to enhance the cognitive, social and leadership skills required in today’s progressive workplace. These include computer-generated simulations of complex medical, surgical, pediatric and psychiatric patient care situations including emergencies. Competency development also includes pre-programmed conversations for students to practice patient teaching, delegation, multidisciplinary collaboration, and other interpersonal communication skills.

Clinical rotations for Pre-Licensure BSN program students are scheduled to begin early in the sophomore year, if all nursing school requirements are met to that point. SVC’s clinical sites throughout Vermont and Massachusetts, include two Magnet-designated hospitals.